


wait for me to come home

by MaddieandChimney



Series: Comfortember 2020 [3]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: F/M, Mentions of Anxiety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:55:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27915619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaddieandChimney/pseuds/MaddieandChimney
Summary: Comfortember Day Four: Anxiety.Maddie always tells him when she won't be home on time, so Chimney can't help but jump to all the worst conclusions.
Relationships: Maddie Buckley/Howie "Chimney" Han
Series: Comfortember 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2044117
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6
Collections: Comfortember 2020





	wait for me to come home

His heart is thumping uncomfortably against his chest as he paces the floor of their new home – moving from the kitchen, into the corridor and back again as he tries to calm himself down to no avail. Eyes glance back over to his phone just lying on the kitchen counter, half-expecting it to flash up with Maddie’s name at any given moment but there’s nothing.

Chimney hates how the panic is rising through him but she’s seven months pregnant and she should have been home an hour ago. All Josh could say to him was that she had left work as she was meant to the hour before and that was that. Perhaps it’s irrational, there’s a hundred things she could be doing, so many different things that could have distracted her as they so often did and he doesn’t want to be that boyfriend keeping tabs on where she is. She’s already been through that but he’d had a rough day. The kind of day that left him just wanting to hold his girlfriend in his arms and feel their baby kicking against his hand.

And Maddie always calls or texts to let him know if she’s going to be late because she knows how worried he gets. Not possessive. Not paranoid. Just anxious. She _always_ lets him know when she knows he’s going to be home waiting for her. And maybe it doesn’t help that she had been complaining that her back was hurting more than usual that morning or maybe he’s trying to justify his fear to himself

He chews the gum in his mouth a little too aggressively as his chest tightens and he feels as though he’s going to vomit. It’s not logical – it’s Maddie and she’s very pregnant and very tired after a long shift and she’s probably stopped to get some cake and some hot chocolate seeing as that’s all she craves these days. Nothing bad could have happened in the fifteen minute car journey between dispatch and their home and surely if it had, he would have heard something by now.

Maddie is fine. She is absolutely fine. But what if she isn’t? What if the baby isn’t? And what if—the thoughts whir through his head at a million miles an hour as he wipes his clammy palms over his sweatpants, gulping down the lump in his throat. She _should_ be home, it’s been too long and—

“Howie?”

Maybe he should be embarrassed by the tears stinging his eyes or the way he practically runs to her, his earlier suspicions confirmed when he sees the cup of hot chocolate in one hand and a half eaten cupcake in the other. “Sorry I’m late, I had a craving I couldn’t ignore for the bakery on the other side of town and I _might_ have accidentally smashed my phone when I was walking to my car. Baby brain.”

“Y-you can’t blame baby brain for anything,” His voice is barely a whisper and he doesn’t miss the confusion, or the concern on her face when she steps forward, a small whine escaping his lips before he can hold it back and at least pretend as though he was absolutely okay, “just needed to see you when I got back home.”

Maddie wasn’t to know that they’d lost a pregnant woman today, a woman two years younger than his very pregnant girlfriend and Bobby had sent him home early because whilst he tried to maintain a level of professionalism, it hit a little too close to home. He’s a little too quick to take the items from her hands, setting them to the side until his arms are tightly wrapped around her (bump permitting) and he inhales sharply, breathing her in. “I’m so sorry, Howie, I didn’t think beyond the smell of freshly baked blueberry pie.”

“But you’re eating a chocolate muffin.” He finds himself mumbling against her neck, pressing open mouthed kisses against her skin until he’s tilting his head up to press his lips to hers, tasting the chocolate on her lips as he does.

She pulls back after a moment, with a sly smile on her face as she does and a sparkle in her eyes, “I ate the pie in the car,” Fingers brush against his cheekbone and he finds himself leaning into the gesture as his eyes close and he takes a breath. “should have found a way to call you though or should have just come home—”

“No, was just worried about you. Not logical. Just—panicked.” He doesn’t want to tell her the truth, already knowing the stress of pregnancy is enough on its own without him adding to that when he’s already booked an appointment with Rosemary and cried on Bobby’s shoulder. “But you’re okay, you’re home.” If she notices his heavy breathing or the panicked look in his eyes, or the way his hands are shaking when he presses them to her stomach, she gives him the courtesy of not saying anything, her lips moving to press to his forehead instead when he lets out a breathy whisper of “You’re both okay.”

“Of course we are, just hungry.” Maddie’s nose scrunches up as she gently squeezes his cheek, pulling back only to grab her cupcake back and despite his earlier anxiety, he can’t help but smile as he watches her. The way she glows, how tight her uniform is around her bump and how her hand so often falls to her stomach with a look of pride and happiness on her face.

“Well, you’ve already had dessert, I’ll order something in.” It’s with a tight smile that he finds himself stepping back, just basking in the relief for another second as he tries to calm his still fast beating heart down. “I love you, Maddie.”

Chimney feels as though his heart is about to fly out of his chest for an entirely different reason when she looks up from where her eyes had been focused on her stomach, a massive grin on her face as she does. It’s the way her eyes light up entirely, her cheeks flush and her smile wide and he thinks she’s the most beautiful person in the world. “We love you, too.”

It’s enough to at least help him take those few steps away from her and back into the kitchen, fists clenched in an attempt to stop them from shaking with the sheer intensity of which he’d been panicking just a few minutes before. She was home and she was safe and he was loved and not alone anymore and that was enough.


End file.
